It's been a long time since I posted a movie review on here, but I figured it was time. I finally saw The Interview. I had been wanting to see the film ever since the insane controversy erupted over its content. North Korea was understandably upset about it and they stand accused of sending hackers out to try and prevent its release. Though they succeed in preventing the film from being widely released in theaters it was put on other places. A few theaters played it and it showed up on Youtube and Amazon. I saw it on Netflix when I suddenly realized it was there. If I had know that I had been released to Netflix sooner I probably would have put this review out when it was more relevant, but alas, I did not.
Before I go any further expect SPOILERS AHEAD! I know some people would be upset if I didn't put that warning there...
So what is there to say about this film? I'll start with what I thought about the film on its own merits and not the controversy it made or any political impact it may have. When evaluating a comedy I always ask myself one thing. Did it make me laugh? The Interview has some decently funny moments. The beginning of the movie with Eminem coming out as gay was hilarious, and so was Rob Lowe's cameo. The story was fine as well, and the acting was decent enough. Randell Park, who played Kim Jong Un, knocked it out of the park and was the best part of the movie. He's got a future as an actor and I hope that the controversy surrounding the film does not hurt his career.
I do have some criticism of it though. Seth Rogen should have just named his character "Seth Rogen" or "Ben Stone" after his character in Knocked Up. He plays the same guy in every movie, and it is a little tiresome. I'm not saying he isn't funny, but he is predictable. And though I don't have a problem with people making a comedy movie about such a serious issue, I do wish that they had made how horrible North Korea is more front and center. I know going too far would have sucked the fun out of the movie but I think they could have pushed the envelope a bit more then they did. They said quite a bit about how people were starving and that there were concentration camps but we never really saw any of it. In film, showing is better then telling and in this case they should have showed a bit more.
All an all it is a fair movie. When I rated it on Netflix, I gave it three stars. It was funny in parts and my worst criticism of it is that it didn't take as many chances it should have. Which is ironic considering how much criticism the movie took for taking a chance with the subject matter. It's not a good movie but it's not a bad one either. So ok it is average. Based on its own merits I'd recommend it for people who like Seth Rogen's style of gross out humor. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone else though, especially people that don't like scatological humor.
Does the film deserve to exist though? North Korea's position is abundantly clear. Given the fact that the film depicts Kim Jong Un as a somewhat pathetic man who ends up crapping his pants on television before dying horribly in an explosion, I understand why they didn't like it. But since North Korea is a brutal dictatorship and an enemy of pretty much everyone on Earth, I don't really care what their leadership thinks. They lost the right to be offended when they put thousands of people in concentration camps and let their people starve while living easy.
The film deserves to exist because world leaders are not exempt from criticism in the free world. This is not the first movie to depict the death of a living world leader. Back in 2006 there was a movie called the Death of a President, which depicted the death of the then current president of the United States, George W Bush. Though the movie was criticized for being in bad taste, nobody threatened to kill anyone for releasing it. Indeed, the film is almost completely unknown and I only heard about it when reading about The Interview. The new film, Kingsman: The Secret Service supposedly depicts the death of President Obama as well, and there aren't any calls for death over that movie.
In short, in a free country we don't care if a world leader is assassinated on screen. Part of that is that our governments aren't show fragile that mere satire and comedy can bring them down. Of course, the right of free speech always trumps the feelings of the overly sensitive and those who would censor reality. The fact that someone threatened violence and hacked computers, dealing millions of dollars worth of damage to Sony Pictures, justifies the existence of the film alone, regardless of its artistic merits. Though the movie was only ok in terms of quality, in terms of importance it is one of the most important films of the new tens just because it was released despite the threats against it.
As for the effect it might have in North Korea, I'm not sure it will have much of an impact. I know South Korean activists are trying to smuggle the film into North Korea but the truth is that few people in that country even have the ability to watch it. Control over computers, DVD players and VCR's are tight and viewing the movie could result in extreme punishment, up to and including death. The fact that someone could die or be sent to a concentration camp over a Seth Rogen movie is just sad.
Of course I'm not sure how much of the movie would translate to North Korea anyways. Eminem, Rob Lowe and all the other references to U.S. culture, like the constant Lord of the Rings references, will fly right over the heads of any North Korean viewers. They would get that the movie was trying to make fun of Kim Jong Un, but that might not have the effect you would expect. Indeed, they worship the Kim family like gods in North Korea. Instead of seeing the movie as a true depiction of Kim Jong Un, they may react the same way that many Muslims reacted to the Charlie Hebdo cartoons. They are that brainwashed in North Korea that satire is equivalent to blasphemy. At best, if you showed many North Koreans the film, they would dismiss it as propaganda, despite the movie having some truth to it.
Of course the film could be used as a tool to those who are resisting the Kim regime. Though I have little hope of these people being able to overthrow the regime, at the very least they may use the film to try and show that Kim is human, not a god. And, for possibly the first time, the North Koreans that see the film could see what it is like to live in a place where you can criticize people. That alone means that the film is better then it should be. Even if you have no desire to see the movie, even if you hate Seth Rogen, even if you think gross out humor is terrible, you should realize that you are incredibly lucky to live in a world where The Interview exists. I just hope the controversy surrounding the movie doesn't scare people away from making similar movies in the future.
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